Missions to the amount of eleven hundred dollars. Then it undertook
self-support. It has been blessed in having a line of far-seeing
pastors who have led it on from strength to strength.

"As its members increased in wealth they grew in their interest in
the advancement of the Kingdom of God. Every enterprise which
helped on that Kingdom was either begun or promoted by the First
Church. The first missionary to Alaska went out from it, and her
expenses were paid for six months from the treasury of the First
Church.

"The steady development of the Oregon Territory engaged the eager
interest of this church from the first. It is said that in all
that district, including Oregon, Washington and part of Idaho, no
Presbyterian church was ever erected which did not receive some
aid from the members of the First Church of Portland.

"In a single year of its history it has contributed twenty thousand
dollars to Home Missions, and it is because of the large share in the
Home Mission work of the Presbytery of Portland taken by the First
Church that that Presbytery was able to assume self-support, and so
become the first self-supporting Presbytery in the great Northwest.

"This church also fostered the educational interests of the
Northwest. Albany College in Oregon owes its existence in large
measure to its generosity. Portland Academy was early taken over
by its members, and to-day is equal to any secondary school in the
country. The San Francisco Theological Seminary came into a full
share of aid and care. The Ladd professorship is a lasting proof
of the spirit of that church.